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Ray Zaborney
Background * Political consultant in PA Insights * Tribune Review editorial in May, 2006 called Ray Zaborney a Lynn Swann campaign flack. The quote from Ray Zaborney: "The last thing our party needs is to have a huge change right now." Links * PA GOP Details Notes from Insider PA.com http://www.insiderpa.com/archive/insider2-2005b.htm (Feb 2005) Allegheny County’s 42nd District: The race to replace Jack Wagner for the remainder of his state Senate term features a battle between a Democratic stalwart on one side and a Democrat recently turned Republican on the other side. In late January, state Rep. Michael Diven of the city’s Brookline section switched his party registration from Democratic to Republican in order to run under the GOP banner for Wagner’s seat. In a way, many see it as a continuation of the battle when members of the Wagner family opposed Diven in his bid for re-election. Diven, however, prevailed even though he had been denied the party endorsement and the leadership of his own party in the House worked against him. This time around the Wagners backed ally Wayne Fontana, a county councilman, and he won the nomination in a vote of the county Democratic Party by 210 votes to 166 for State Rep. Nick Kotik, his nearest rival. Two other Democrats also sought the party nod. Democrats look at the makeup of the 60 percent city-40 percent suburban district and see a 3-2 victory for their side. But Republicans say with Diven switching parties to become their candidate, and hot young political guru Ray Zaborney working for Diven in that race, they will parlay their special election advantage into votes for Diven against Fontana. Zaborney stunned Allegheny County politics two years ago by running the negative campaign that elected Republican Judge Jill Rangos over Democratic City Councilman Alan Hertzberg for an open judge’s seat. And he says he can do it again in this race. But the big question is why is Diven, a strong labor Democrat, switching parties? Yes, he indeed has been a major, angry critic of House Democratic leaders, and after voting against Gov. Ed Rendell on five of his seven major initiatives, he had no friends in the front office either. His mentor and close ally, Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, tried hard, but couldn’t get either House Democrats or Rendell to care enough to keep him in the Democratic Party, since that would mean forcing the Wagners to endorse Diven as the Democratic Senate candidate. The Wagners and the rest of the Allegheny County Democrats made it clear that they would not do that and Diven wanted to run. He believes this race will be just the latest example of his ability to connect with voters and stun the political experts. GOP Senate political honcho Mike Long says Diven can win, but some neutral observers say his goal here is just to cut down on the Democrats’ ability to fund Jennifer Mann in the earlier special election. And the factor that made Mann switch her election away from the primary date may also help the Democratic nominee. Democratic voters in the city portion of the district will likely turn out for a contested mayor’s race to replace Tom Murphy and many are likely to vote straight Democratic, ignoring the special election option of choosing a Republican in that one race alone. But as Diven points out, “I have been written off when I ran for city council, when I ran for state House, with the same people against me then who are against me now. They haven’t stopped me yet and third time is the charm.” category:who